De Havilland: Double Spectre
Note: This is a sub-section of De Havilland
The Double Spectre consists of a fully variable DSpe.5 (weight 4311b) mounted beneath a fixed-thrust DSpe.4 (weight 3931b) (the DSpe.4 had been developed primarily as a take-off booster for the Victor bomber.
A large amount of development work was conducted on the original single-barrel aircraft engine from which it was derived.
This rocket engine was flown in Avro: Blue Steel test vehicles from October 1959.
By 1960 well over 150hr firing has been logged at Hatfield and at Salisbury, South Australia in Blue Steel tests.
After release of the vehicle the lower engine is fired first, at any thrust from idling at 8001b to the maximum of 8,0001b. Almost instantaneously thereafter the upper engine can be fired, both units running on HTP and kerosine under independent control. [1]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ FLIGHT, 2 September 1960